Sagala is likely the city of Śākala () mentioned in the
Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic of ancient India, as occupying a similar area as Greek accounts of Sagala. The city may have been inhabited by the
Saka, or
Scythians, from
Central Asia who had migrated into the Indian subcontinent. The region was noted in the
Mahabharata for the "loose and Bacchanalian" women who lived in the woods there. The city was said to have been located in the
Sakaladvipa region between the
Chenab and
Ravi rivers, now known as the
Rechna Doab.
Indian campaign of Alexander the Great .The
Anabasis of Alexander, written by the Roman-Greek historian
Arrian, recorded that Alexander the Great captured ancient Sialkot, recorded as Sagala
, from the
Cathaeans, who had entrenched themselves there. The city had been home to 80,000 residents on the eve of Alexander's invasion, Under Menander's rule, the city greatly prospered as a major trading centre renowned for its
silk. Literary accounts suggests the Greeks and the local population of cities like Sagala lived in relative harmony, with some of the Greeks converting to Buddhism and adopting local traditions. Menander embraced Buddhism in Sagala, after an extensive debating with the Buddhist monk
Nagasena, as recorded in the Buddhist text
Milinda Panha. the text offers an early description of the city's cityscape and status as a prosperous trade centre with numerous green spaces. Following his conversion, Sialkot developed as a major centre for Buddhist thought. and
Nagasena. Ancient Sialkot was recorded by
Ptolemy in his 1st century CE work,
Geography, in which he refers to the city as Euthymedia (
Εύθυμέδεια). : There is in the country of the Yonakas a great centre of trade, a city that is called Sâgala, situated in a delightful country well watered and hilly, abounding in parks and gardens and groves and lakes and tanks, a paradise of rivers and mountains and woods. Wise architects have laid it out, and its people know of no oppression, since all their enemies and adversaries have been put down. Brave is its defence, with many and various strong towers and ramparts, with superb gates and entrance archways; and with the royal citadel in its midst, white walled and deeply moated. Well laid out are its streets, squares, cross roads, and market places. Well displayed are the innumerable sorts of costly merchandise with which its shops are filled. It is richly adorned with hundreds of alms-halls of various kinds; and splendid with hundreds of thousands of magnificent mansions, which rise aloft like the mountain peaks of the Himalayas. Its streets are filled with elephants, horses, carriages, and foot-passengers, frequented by groups of handsome men and beautiful women, and crowded by men of all sorts and conditions, Brahmans, nobles, artificers, and servants. They resound with cries of welcome to the teachers of every creed, and the city is the resort of the leading men of each of the differing sects. Shops are there for the sale of
Benares muslin, of Kotumbara stuffs, and of other cloths of various kinds; and sweet odours are exhaled from the bazaars, where all sorts of flowers and perfumes are tastefully set out. Jewels are there in plenty, such as men's hearts desire, and guilds of traders in all sorts of finery display their goods in the bazaars that face all quarters of the sky. So full is the city of money, and of gold and silver ware, of copper and stone ware, that it is a very mine of dazzling treasures. And there is laid up there much store of property and corn and things of value in warehouses-foods and drinks of every sort, syrups and sweetmeats of every kind. In wealth it rivals
Uttara-kuru, and in glory it is as
Âlakamandâ, the city of the gods. (
The Questions of King Milinda, translated by
T. W. Rhys Davids, 1890)
Archaeology A
hoard containing numerous coins of Menander I, and
Hellenistic pottery shards, were unearthed from
Siranwali village near Sialkot. ==See also==